Mayday: An interview with Karen Cinorre

Debut director Karen Cinorre’s Mayday twists the ancient myth of the Sirens into a modern day feminist fantasy – a movie that has marked her out as a filmmaker to watch after it received its virtual premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

Starring Grace Van Patten as Ana, a young woman transported following a violent encounter to a dreamlike land inhabited by an army of girls fighting a guerilla war of the sexes, the work also stars a stellar supporting cast – including Juliette Lewis and Mia Goth – for a first feature.

For the flick, Cinorre drew on a host of cinematic inspirations, old and new, including The Wizard of Oz, the British war movies of Powell and Pressburger, as well as Lewis’ experiences filming action-packed Hollywood blockbusters when creating sequences that mark Mayday out as an especially ambitious project for an emerging director. 

As Ana and her comrades lure unsuspected airmen towards peril, they learn the skills they need to take on male aggression, as well as learning how to cope in a real world where threats, enemies and friends are more ambiguous. It’s a work reliant on Cinorre, cinematographer Sam Levy’s visual sensibilities and the stunning Croatian landscape against which it was shot for its impact.

We had the pleasure of speaking to Karen about her film and its themes, events on its Croatian set, her cinematic influences and what it’s like to debut your first feature during a global pandemic.

Mark Worgan

Mayday does not have a UK release date yet. Read our review here.

For further information about Sundance Film Festival 2021 visit here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.